A healthier lifestyle helps slow the development of dementia, even for Alzheimer’s patients, according to an Inserm study

More than 5,000 sixty-year-olds were followed for 12 to 17 years. The result shows that, even if you have a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer’s disease, good lifestyle habits can reduce or delay symptoms.

This is a first in France; researchers from Inserm, the National Institute of Health and Medical Research, have shown that by adopting a healthier lifestyle, we can delay the onset of dementia. and slow cognitive decline, even in people at risk of Alzheimer’s.

The study published Thursday June 6 in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, led by researcher Cecilia Samieri, followed 5,170 people over 65 living in Dijon, Montpellier and Bordeaux for 12 to 17 years. At first, “none of them had a diagnosis of dementia”, specifies the study. The researchers assigned each participant a “risk score” called “LIfestyle for BRAin health score (LIBRA)”.

It includes 12 components: lifestyle factors, i.e. poor diet, physical inactivity, low engagement in stimulating cognitive activities, no or high alcohol and tobacco consumption. This score also takes into account data related to cardio-metabolic health, namely whether the patient has a history of heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol, is obese or has hypertension, but also a kidney dysfunction or depression.

To complete this LIBRA, the researchers also characterized the “genetic risk of each participant” with two criteria: the first is the presence or absence of the APOE-ε4 gene, “which is the main genetic risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s disease”, details the study. The second criterion is a genetic risk score, “which brings together the other genetic susceptibility factors of the disease.”

The result of the study, released Thursday, shows that the higher a person has a LIBRA score, that is to say a large number of factors “in a direction unfavorable to health”the greater the risk of developing the disease, “regardless of one’s genetic predisposition for Alzheimer’s.” So, therefore, with a healthier lifestyle, she has less risk of developing the disease.

Data that will have a concrete effect in preventing the disease, which is currently incurable. “Prevention programs targeting modifiable lifestyle factors could benefit everyone, even people with a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer’s disease”deciphers the Inserm study. “Encouraging these people to modify some of their behaviors, acting on modifiable risk factors, is likely to provide significant benefits in reducing cognitive aging and delaying the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease,” finally underlines Cécilia Samieri, Inserm research director and co-author of the study.